


Replacement Dad

by Livinei



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, KING OF SPADES IS FUCKIN CANCELLED, a hungry boy, in this house we love and respect lancer's actual dad rouxls kaard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 19:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livinei/pseuds/Livinei
Summary: “Dad was busy today, he’s already making plans for thrashing the Lightners who are supposed to come here at some point according to some story.”“So?”“Well, he was busy so he forgot to make dinner! And I didn’t eat anything this morning either! I can’t sleep because I’m hungry,” Lancer explains, a pout tugging at his lips, and Rouxls’ eyes widen in alarm.“Haveth you eaten anything at all today?!” he asks, disbelieving. He knew the King doesn’t pay a lot of attention to his son but-a little fic about RK and Lancer being Better Dad and A Hungry Little Boi





	Replacement Dad

**Author's Note:**

> I DONT FUCKIN KNOW HOW TO DO RK’S ACCENT OK I HATE IT

Rouxls Kaard is a lot of things. He’s a puzzle maker. He’s a shopkeeper. He’s an expert in all there is to know about bugs. But one thing he’s _not_ is a replacement father for the most troublesome prince in the Dark world.

He wasn’t _supposed_ to be, right?! That’s not what he was told to do.

Rouxls thinks back at the second day that the King of Spades had been the sole possessor of power.

 

“ _You all,” the King’s voice rumbles through the hall. He’s slouching on his throne, the one in the middle of the room, and though he’s not making an effort to speak loudly his voice makes everyone cower. He was a scary man before the Knight showed up, and it didn’t change for the better._

_Rouxls stands close to the wall, seeing as he’s not the one being addressed at the moment but rather a group of Jigsawries who kneel at a respectable distance from the throne, so he dares to look around for a moment. The other three thrones still remain in the room, for now, but they’ve been pushed to the back of the throne hall._

“ _You all are released from your duties as puzzle_ _ma_ _kers._ _You may go._ _In fact, let all the current puzzle guys know they’re no longer needed._ _”_

_Rouxls, in surprise at the order, looks at the Jigsawries. They look as shocked._

“ _But, my King,” one starts, seeming_ _anxious_ _, “What will we do then? How will we_ _make money to live_ _?”_

“ _That’s not my problem,”_ _the King says, and his cold gaze veers over to the man beside the wall. “Kaard.”_

_Rouxls jolts at the mention of his name and bows quickly, putting his hands behind his back._

“ _You will be in charge of the puzzles from now on.”_

 _He stares at the King for a few seconds,_ _then_ _uncertainly_ _looking_ _at the group that hasn’t left yet. Surely, the King doesn’t mea_ _n that he alone is replacing_ all _of the puzzle makers in the Dark world. Right?_

“ _All of them, sir?”_ _he carefully asks, tilting his head._

“ _Yes. Is that a problem?” the King replies, and the mouth on his stomach takes on a gruesome grin. A cold shiver runs down Rouxls' spine._

“ _Not at all, m_ _ine_ _King,” he says with a dry smile, and bows again. The King waves the Jigsawries towards the exit, and they scramble out the door._

 _A_ _nd a_ _t that moment_ _the King’s son_ _runs in._

“ _Dad!_ _Hey Dad!_ _Do you want a beanie? I made a whole lot of beanies and now I kind of don’t know what to do with them,” Lancer exclaims with a toothy smile, waving a baggy little hat in his hand, and pads right up to the throne._

“ _I don’t want it,” the King says, blind to how the child’s smile falters, and repeats the same dismissing gesture he made a few moments ago to the former puzzle guys, “I don’t have time for you right now, Lancer. Go and be useful somewhere.”_

“ _Okay,” Lancer says, looking at his shoes, and turns around. Rouxls almost feels sorry for him. Then, the kid’s eyes catch his and light up again, just a little bit._

“ _What about you, Blue Guy? Do you want a beanie?”_

_He’s caught off guard, and tries to think of an answer quickly. He doesn’t know whether he’s allowed to accept something that the King has refused. However, before he can make a choice, Lancer’s shoved the thing into his hands and scurried off with a wave._

_Both the King and Rouxls watch him disappear out the door, and then Rouxls looks back at the King, awaiting an_ _y_ _further orders,_ _or, hopefully, a permission to leave._

“ _You are dismissed for now,” the King says, ignoring the beanie in his hand, and Rouxls holds back a relieved sigh. He bows, and turns to walk out the door._

_But before he reaches it, the King’s booming voice stops him once more._

“ _Oh, Kaard. I don’t have time to run after_ _Lancer_ _all day. Whenever you happen upon him, make sure he’s not doing anything he isn’t supposed to be doing out there.”_

“ _Of course, m_ _ine_ _King.”_

 

That was then. He wasn’t asked to babysit the young heir, just to make sure every once in a while that he behaves.

But the King must have told Lancer to go to Rouxls Kaard instead of bothering his father, because Lancer kept showing up and it was _annoying._

Once-twice a day, at first. Then every couple of hours. And after a while ( _no doubt because he realized that his subjects can’t turn away a prince,_ Rouxls thought, but not quite managing to fool himself into believing it) the kid was glued to his side for most of the day, only leaving when he got really bored but even then returning soon.

 _I’m only doing this to placate the King,_ he tells himself.

Not because the child doesn’t have any friends and is lonely. Not because his father pays barely any attention to him. Not because he _likes_ the little menace. Heavens no! Lancer has an obnoxious obsession with cartoon splat noises, gives him silly nicknames, is loud and way too enthusiastic and never seems to shut up, and he’s _not at all_ endearing.

Rouxls would before die than admit that he cares for the kid.

 

If, time after time, he starts suspecting that the King of Spades isn’t, well, the best father, that doesn’t affect him at all. Not that he’d ever say that he thinks that King is a bad father. He likes having his head. But no one can charge him for thinking.

 

One night, as he sits in his room at the back of his shop, Lancer hops in.

“Hey, Lesser Dad!” he greets, his blanket still around his shoulders. Lancer’s room hasn’t always been next to the shop, he used to be across the hallway from the King’s private quarters. He’d occupied the room next door to Rouxls about two weeks after the overthrow, simply stating he’ll sleep there from now on. Rouxls still isn’t sure whether the King is even aware of this, seeing as he rarely concerns himself with anything Lancer-related. He hasn’t asked, and doesn’t plan to.

“What doth thee want? Isn’t it past thine bedtime?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow and turning to face the kid. Lancer bounces on his feet.

“I can’t sleep,” he says, plopping down on a chair at the table and letting the blanket fall from his shoulders.

“Why not?” Rouxls sighs, leaning his chin on his hand.

“Dad was busy today, he’s already making plans for thrashing the Lightners who are supposed to come here at some point according to some story.”

“So?”

“Well, he was busy so he forgot to make dinner! And I didn’t eat anything this morning either! I can’t sleep because I’m hungry,” Lancer explains, a pout tugging at his lips, and Rouxls’ eyes widen in alarm.

“Haveth you eaten anything at all today?!” he asks, disbelieving. He knew the King doesn’t pay a lot of attention to his son but-

“The shopkeeper dude at the Field gave me some milk earlier, but it didn’t help a lot,” Lancer shrugs, swinging his legs. Rouxls feels something cold settle in his lungs, and if he shot a fiery glare in the general direction of the King’s room, Lancer didn’t see that.

“Waiteth a little, I’ll get thee somethinge to eat,” he says, shaking his head to fend off the treasonous anger at the King, and goes to fetch a bowl.

He watches as Lancer eats, shoveling worms into his face like… well, like a kid who hasn’t eaten all day, and crosses his arms, not bothering to hide the worry on his face for once. How many other times had Lancer gone without eating that he didn’t know about?

It’s- It’s a child! It’s an energetic, spirited child who likes to ride around on a bicycle that’s on fire to seem cool, a child who gets lost in a maze and doesn’t learn to not go in alone next time, a child who asks him to teach him how to make puzzles and then gets bored and sneaks off because he doesn’t know how to solve them, a child who spends every waking moment pestering him about listening to his ridiculous MP3s or persuading him to catch bugs with him or asking strange questions that don’t seem to have answers, because he wants _somebody_ to spend time with him.

Apparently, a child whose father forgets to feed him.

“Thanks! You’re the best, Lesser Dad,” Lancer chirps cheerfully, pushing the empty bowl away. The statement makes a warm little bundle appear in his chest, but Rouxls isn’t entirely satisfied yet.

“Don’t runneth around with an empty stomache in the future, little water-beetle, got it?” he frowns, making a half-hearted effort to seem relatively indifferent. He’s not too upset at the fact that he knows it doesn’t look very convincing.

“Got it,” Lancer beams at him, hopping off the stool, and Rouxls starts cleaning up the table.

He doesn’t say anything when Lancer picks up his blanket and instead of leaving makes a nest at the foot of his bed.

 

He’s a lot of things. And if being a replacement father for the troublesome little prince means that the kid is actually getting taken care of… well, he supposes he can be that, too.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! leave a comment to let me know what you thought! <3


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